Burgess Owens, who starred in the NFL as a hard-hitting safety for the New York Jets and the Super Bowl-winning Oakland Raiders, said the NFL’s national anthem protests are a symptom of a much deeper problem with the league and society.

“They need to do something different,” Owens said Saturday on “Fox & Friends Weekend,” adding that the message the NFL is sending is the opposite of what America needs.

“Young men need to recognize how proud we should be of that flag,” he said. “Our institutions are under attack, God, family, country.”

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Owens suggested that the NFL should be leading that particular effort, not shying away from it.

“The NFL needs to step up to the plate, recognize what’s going to work for this country. And pride in country, flag, and culture is the bottom line,” Owens said.

Owens said that the NFL became a success story because it was a part of America, not apart from it.

“It comes down to this was every business as they grow bigger become a point of humbling and look at what you are doing and still tune in with your base,” he said.

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“They have to set parameters to make sure everyone who is on the field knows what they are supposed to do and last thing if they do not respect the ones our country stands for, one can all agree, most of us can agree, should never be demeaned,” he added.”

Owens also suggested that the NFL needs to decide how “valuable it is to be patriotic, to have a vision what they wanted their brand to be and have the courage to stand up to the unions and let these kids, these young people, do your thing, get your money, make a difference but not during this particular time.”

He said that players should not be out of sight for the anthem, but should be where they belong.

“… don’t have these young men hiding in the locker room, that is the last thing you need to have, stand on the side lines with your hand over your heart or just stand and play the game and then make the difference,” he said.

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Owens said he appreciates the anti-kneeling tweets that have continually emerged from President Donald Trump to “drive the left nuts.”

Owens has been consistently opposed to the protests since former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick refused to stand for the anthem last year.

“The mistake was made a year ago, when they allowed a Marxist to take the reins of their organization … Colin Kaepernick,” Owens told Fox Business Channel in a November interview. “That’s what we’re up against.”

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Owens suggested that the “anti-white” manipulation of the black community by Democrats and liberals helped create the mindset in which the protests blossomed.

“BET is what these guys are looking at every single day. It’s owned by a white corporation, Viacom,” he said. “For the last 15 years, they have been flooded with anti-white, anti-American, anti-flag (propaganda) … everything they need to make sure (black people are) energized when it comes to election time.”

“(The enemy) is not each other,” he said. “It’s Marxist, liberal Democrats who use my race to get power.”